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Tracy Sklenar
KeymasterGood morning!
Looking at the threadles:
>> We wondered if Sid’s barking might be bothering her and she had no errors after we put him in the other room. Do you think that could have been the issue?
That absolutely could be it. If he was in a crate nearby and barking at her… she could totally be feeling that pressure and not wanting to move towards it. Putting him in the other room was smart!
One other thing that can help: use a wing for her to go around, might be bigger & better visual than the little wingless.
I think she had a little concern about driving in that close to you (BCs don’t naturally love that LOL!) but she did well and we will get you moving soon, so there will be less pressure.
>> Also, am I releasing with the verbal correctly?
Yes! That was lovely!
Looking at the reverse retrieves: she is keeping you honest, she was correct here LOL!!!!
What was happening was that yes, there was a toy on the ground but you were moving forward and looking at her before saying get it… so in that context based on your movement and where you were looking: she was correct toast if the ‘get it’ meant the toy out ahead, where a get it toy would normally be (based on your motion and body language). She would go back to the toy when you hesitated.
So, you need to indicate the toy more clearly: Put the toy down, shift your connection to the toy (look at it and point at it), say get it… and you can start to move *after* she starts moving towards it. And as you move forward, keep looking at the toy to support the verbal get it cue as well. That should help her understand that you do want her to get it in that moment 🙂
Great job here!! Let me know what you think!
TracyTracy Sklenar
KeymasterGood morning!
It is great that you have the opportunity to go to these run throughs! Yay!
>>She is quite motion sensitive, so she was pretty wound up. Let’s be honest, wound up is her normal state.
I had not watched this week’s resilience game-but that is **generally** what I was going for. I know I have some missed steps, but this activity we do at home all the time. Play with the toy, do a thing.>>Based on her response to the environment (internal and external environment) – I recommend starting with the pattern games before the arousal game. If you take her into the higher state of arousal (which is the toy-trick-toy-trick volume dial game) but she does not have the understanding of how to self-regulate in that environment that the pattern games bring… you will get an arousal state that is past optimal, because she doesn’t have the tools to self-regulate and explore the environment.
So definitely make those pattern games into something she can do anywhere, any time – and use them each time you go into a new environment so she can assess is can rehearse self-regulating. This is one of the biggest pieces to get focus and engagement.
>>This is two 2 minute sessions. She called at my time at 1 minute and I knew it was time to finish. The process of getting the leash led to some out of the ring distraction. She certainly can go through those ring gates and did not, so that’s good.>>
Bear in mind that running and tugging at that level of arousal is probably too long to do for more than 30 to 45 seconds. One full minute? That is 3 full novice jumpers runs, and you can see she had nothing left in the tank after 1 minute (that is when she moved into leaving/barking at other things in both of the sessions here). So set a timer for 20 seconds, tops! Do 20 seconds of stuff. Then take a moment, pick her up, do a scatter of treats or a pattern game to center the arousal…. Then after 10 or 15 seconds of that, you can go back to the volume dial game and some agility.
2 minutes does not feel like a lot of us… but it is a loooonnnnnng time for a baby dog! And because it goes on longer than she can handle here during the learning stages and adolescence, she is rehearsing other behaviors (barking at things outside the ring, leaving you, jumping up at you, etc).
As a point of reference, UKI limits the NFC runs to 45 seconds. And I will tell you that running around out there for 45 seconds is so exhausting LOL! In a small space like this, you are not also running so you don’t feel it as much.
>>It took throwing the toy to get her on it, but she didn’t do a victory lap which she usually does.>>
I think that part of the reason she wasn’t too into the toy was that you were facing her and it was ‘dead’ – throwing it gets it moving again and relieves the pressure of being leaned over. So rather than standing still with the toy – either throw it immediately or run with it dangling, so she chases it. Practice having her chase you for the toy like this because you can’t throw it in AKC FEO runs, so we will want to have her loving the chase so you can use it as a motivator & reinforcement.
>>To work on (my observation): 1. The trick/reinforcement routine for warmup.>>
Yes, but that is a small detail and should be put in place after the pattern games with the cookies.
>>2. Food/toy reinforcement tradeoff
Getting more chasing of the toy from your hand in the rig – using a longer toy will help this too.
>>3. proofing throwing the leash
Since there is already so much on the list with baby dogs, don’t worry about this and just put the leash down (no throwing) or in your pocket (legal in AKC nowadays, I believe). Throwing it can go back on the to-do list later on.
>>4. Write out the plan for startline routine
I think a written plan is too hard to follow. Think of it as a toolbox and you whip out tools depending on what is happening, rather than trying to follow a routine. First up? Pattern games haha I might have mentioned those. They are the most important thing for getting engagement and focus in a really stimulating/stressful environment.
>>5. Some leash on/off proofing (take off tug, put on tug)
You can take the leash off and stand still, rewarding her for also standing still. Do this at home for about a zillion reinforcements before trying it at a trial or run through.
And yes, developing a motivating way to get to the leash will help a lot. Will she jump into your arms as a trick? You can also teach her to target the leash on cue and maybe even pick it up for you.
Speaking of standing still: high on the list is teaching her to settle and be still so you aren’t locked into using action to keep her engaged, and so her focus doesn’t shift if you aren’t in high action all the time. Agility has a decent amount of stops and stillness, and I don’t think she knows a lot about that at the moment. For example, she checks out when you asked for that at 1:15. Guess what helps develop that, in the aroused environment? Pattern games hahaha 🙂 They teach the dogs to breathe and assess and have some stillness, internally and externally.
And separately from this environment, working on the stay (offered stillness) and on standing still when the leash comes off will really help.
>>he jumps up and bites at my clothing. Help?
That is a frustration/arousal expression where she doesn’t quite know what else to do. The self-regulation games (pattern games and volume dial) will help this, as will the other resilience games. Plus, building in stillness to her training will help too, because it gives her something useful to do (stand still!) when she otherwise doesn’t know what else to do and can replace jumping up and grabbing. It is not a cued stillness… it is offered stillness 🙂
>>2. How can a 9 lb dog make so much noise in a tunnel???
Ha! Thunderfeet! And probably the matting combined with the tunnel being a little too squished up 🙂
Let me know what you think!
TracyTracy Sklenar
KeymasterGood morning!
>>I’m a little afraid of a quiet verbal, but it makes logical sense that if the dog understands their job & knows the verbal, it should work. >>
KissKissKiss is actually a fairly loud verbal 🙂 I would say it is medium volume. It can’t quite be shouted like GO or HERE but it will cut through the excitement 🙂
>>When we get to the sequence where they go in the tunnel entry, exit & then threadle to the entry again, I’m not sure how to place the reward. I don’t think I can get her past the MM on the first pass, can I reward for the tunnel entry & then reaward again for the threadle pass? Or just work though getting her past the MM and taking the tunnel again for the threadle?>>
On the double whammy game, you can begin by doing a single tunnel send and throwing the reward (no MM). Then you can do the doubles, and throw the reward for the threadle pass. That way, you don’t have to teach her to ignore the MM as that would probably be frustrating for you both!
>>Seeing how you are applying the release words helped me think it through. I am going to dedicate myself to NOT saying “ok” and using Break & Get it & Find it instead. This one is on me, I need to be clear & consistent and my use of “Ok” is not.>>
Perfect! The two words I think we all need to basically eliminate: “OK” and “yes”. We humans use them inconsistently and the dogs get confused.
Looking at the box work:
She was more than happy to get into the box here! I like you reset cue! If there are no going to be cookies with it (it is just a line up cue), use a ‘get it’ when there is a cookie going to be added to it.
Since she found this game really easy and was immediately offering getting into the box: time to work on the next step of getting her to move through the box and NOT look at you. The easiest way to start that is to replace the clicker with your get it marker, and throw the rewards ahead of you.When you see her starting to get into the box, you can say get it and toss a reward so she exits the box to get it – that also lines her up nicely for the next rep, where you can have her go through the box the other direction (and you can walk back and forth as well).
>>Can I use an uncut yoga mat for now or is it too narrow?
The yoga mat here looked good! And when you do running dog walk foundations, you will want a smaller version of it, maybe 24” inches long and 12 inches wide approximately.
Pivoting is a great skill but certainly not and easy one to teach! LOOK AT HER MOVING HER BOOTY BACK TO CENTER!!!!! Brilliant!!! It normally takes longer to get this behavior but looks like she got it in about 30 seconds. Happy dance! And she was doing it in both directions.
So the next step would be to do one more change in reward placement: rather than feeding her in position when she pivots back to center, you can let her do the pivot… then throw the reward off to the other side to reward the pivot and set up the next rep. This placement will also get more pivoting!
As you work on pivoting, it falls into the category of games where the dog works harder than the humans LOL!! So do fewer reps because it is quite the hind end workout for a puppy (all while we just stand there haha!) So for now, keep it to 5 reps in each direction and be done. It is a workout/body awareness/conditioning exercise all rolled into one and you can see her form changing as she got more tired by the end.
Retrieving video:
>>She ran past me to a cat & then brought the toy back. I’m amazed.HA!!! Cats always show up at just the right time to distract the puppies LOL!!
She did great! She liked the chase element of this, which is probably part of why she brought the toy back so nicely each time: tug then throw seemed super fun and motivating for her! So when you use retrieving in ‘formal’ training, be sure to do what you are doing here: making it fun for her to chase it and bring it back with lots of play and more chasing 🙂What other toys does she like to retrieve? This one looks like the handle was small enough that it was easy to carry, so you can get several toys like that to have a variety of things for hr to bring back.
The rear crosses are going well! She is getting the idea really well in both directions!! I am excited that she has it to the right now as well.
At this point, you can start moving sooner because she seems to know that it is about the prop (you don’t have to let her get to it before moving).
A couple of things to change to as well:
Put the prop more directly in front of her now (or move yourself over :)) so she is not needing to cut in front of your feet to get to it. That way she can go straight-ish and you can cut behind her for a rear cross like it would be on the jump.
Also, try not to say ‘go’ or swing your hand across you – both of those will mean different things when we move to a jump. What to say instead? You can do something like a ‘ready set…’ then a silly noise 🙂 When we move to a jump, we will add directionals for the turn, but for now we don’t want to add them to the prop.
Great job on these!!! Let me know what you think!
TracyTracy Sklenar
KeymasterGood morning!
Loved your energy here on the tunnel session! So fun!!
>>I may have used my threadle hand to ‘help’ Bob a little too much initially.
Your hand looked good to me but there was a little too much foot rotation to send him into the tunnel 🙂 We want this to be a cue he reads without you needing to rotate your feet at all, so on the next session, you can add a little motion by meeting him at the tunnel exit a bit then (using the arm and verbal only) – just walk forward on a line parallel to his path to the tunnel entry for the threadle. Watch his head as you do the – as soon as he turns his head to the tunnel, *then* you can turn and move to the tunnel and reward. Let him make the first turn, rather than him waiting for you to turn your feet. Walk slowly at first, so he doesn’t have to sort out the cue with a lot of motion.
>>I also wonder if my verbal cue is a little late.>>The timing of the threadle cue seemed fine to me! Sometimes you threw in a tunnel verbal after it, but you don’t need the tunnel verbal with the threadle verbal, just the threadle verbal. The name call to get him turning on the tunnel exit was a little late, but I am not too concerned about that in this game 🙂
Question: At :44 – he had a delayed drop of the toy., like he was a little clamped on it Is this something you are seeing, or just a random moment?
Jump threadles –
>>Why did he come directly to me through the jump a few times? When SuZie moved him closer it was not an issue. Or could it have been my position?>>
It was your position 🙂 Susie was also holding him longer to make sure he didn’t end up on the front of the jump LOL
When you were in threadle position, with more of your arm/leg/shoulder visible outside the wing, he did really well!!! When you were mostly between the uprights, that reads as serp position to him (correctly) because the tiny hand cue disappears behind the wing and he locks onto the rest of the physical cue. You can see his questions starting at 1:43 and 1:50, where you were almost entirely between the uprights. He came through the uprights at 1:59 – you didn’t have connection to him before the release and you were fully between the uprights, so it totally did look like a serp cue.
Compare these reps where he had the big questions to 2:20 and after that, where you were so much more visible outside the wing and it was easy for him. So always check your position – your threadle arm and shoulder should be fully visible outside the wing, with your legs/chest lined up to the wing and not over the bar.
Also – using the threadle verbal versus the regular release verbal will make a big difference. The ‘break’ release will always mean front side, so the sooner you can add the threadle verbal as the release, the easier it will be for him to discriminate front versus back (along with positional cue).
Driving ahead: Yay! Always good to revisit this one!!!! When he gets to the toy, you can turn and run the other way so he chases you with it rather than you chasing him for it 🙂 On these straight line go go go moments, be sure you have enough room to run completely straight so you don’t cut behind him by accident on these (also note you called him Cisco at the end….so cute! I bet Cisco would be thinking “I am faster than that silly puppy” hahahaha
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyTracy Sklenar
KeymasterHi!
Get out:
>>When we have prop right there on out path, but I do not want him to get to it, I do not reward when he goes by himself? >>
Because the prop has a lot of value, he is going to want to go to it (and that is a good thing :)) You can help him know the difference when you want the out (with the connection and arm cue) versus when you don’t want the out (calling him past it). That way he won’t default to going to the prop for now, and eventually we will build it up so he won’t want to leave his line for it.
>>I am trying to switch between Parallel and Send Out on my command>>
This will work better on the flat, rather than having the jump in the picture at this stage. The jump is a big visual as compared to the little prop, so he was not entirely sure what to look at. And adding the parallel path over the jump before the out to the prop delays the out cue, so he was not sure he was supposed to move away. So for now, you’ll see he has an easier time if you take the jump out of the picture to avoid mixing concepts so he can focus on one cue (the out) rather than the jump and the out to the prop.
One of the interesting things about puppies is watching them grow up and mature – mentally! So at 5 months old, he is great with sorting out each concept. And I think you will see he will be able to put two of the concepts together when he is more like 8-10 months old. My whippet puppy is 5.5 months old and I see the same thing: one concept? Easy peasy! Two concepts together…. not as easy 🙂 This is especially true when it involves physical coordination LOL! Both of our puppies are ALL LEGS right now and will grow into those legs and coordination in the coming months 🙂 Fun times ahead!!!!!
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyTracy Sklenar
KeymasterHi!
Rocking horses – yes, this is a high energy game LOL! It is amazing how fast it tires out us humans haha!!!
>>I was late on blind, lol with 5 month puppy
Ha! You can be sooner on that for sure 🙂
One way to be quicker is to tuck the toy into your pocket or leave it in the same hand (don’t change hands). When you changed the toy from hand-to-hand, it delays the timing of the cue (the blind in this case) and as he gets faster and faster, you have less and less time to do the blind 🙂 If keeping the toy in the same hand is hard for him, it is totally fine to stuff it in a pocket or under your shirt 🙂 This game does not require a precise reward, so it is fine to do it with empty hands then whip out the toy when it is time to reward.You had a really good training moment at :33 and after it: You didn’t have enough connection at :33 so he ended up on the other side of you. Great job just rewarding him (it was handler error not puppy error) and then you made a great adjustment on the next rep to show super clear connection. YAY!! Click/treat for you!
He was totally doing the backwards sending too! Yay! You need to stay quiet on those until you tell him to get the toy… when he was starting it and you said “YES!” He thought it was time to get the toy so came back to you. Try to use a toy marker instead of yes, and don’t say it til he has just about completed the wrap on the backwards sending: those are hard so being quieter for now will really help 🙂
Great job 🙂
TracyTracy Sklenar
KeymasterHi!
Parallel path with wings – he is finding the parallel path really nicely! No problem with the wings 🙂
The next steps would be to move faster (I bet you can run a bit!) and use a toy 🙂 And you can also add more lateral distance away from it. To get the more lateral distance, you can either have someone hold him (eventually he will have a stay, but for now I would not suggest using it) or you can do a cookie toss to get him starting).Before you add that, though – do you have a jump bump or rolled up towel or something to use instead of a bar? He is too young to have the full coordination for us to add a bar yet (he is trotting over it like a cavaletti, and I don’t want him to jump anything yet), so we can use something like a bump or towel for him to move over at this point.
Great job 🙂
TracyTracy Sklenar
KeymasterGood morning!
>>Charlie full of energy from 6AM till 8AM. By the time I come home from work to lunch break he is not at his peak.>>
Totally understandable!! My pup is totally awake at 6am… or 10pm. HA! Is it possible to carve out 2 or 3 minutes in the early morning for the high energy games, like rocking horses? The calmer games (like this head turn game) can be at lunch break or evening when he is not as amped up, maybe?
He is doing well with his head turns here!! He was not sure of exactly where to start, so you can have him start by lining up at your side, facing the pool then send him away to the upright for the first wrap like a normal wrap 🙂 It is that 2nd wrap where you can use your hand like you did here, to get him focused on your hand, then turn him away and click. That will lead really nicely into when we add it to the cones 🙂
Nice work!
TracyTracy Sklenar
KeymasterHi!
He is doing well with the RC concepts!
One suggestion:
Rather than starting several feet behind him, you can be near to him and moving forward on the line for a few steps before cutting on for the RC. A couple of reasons for this suggestion:– when you are behind and NOT moving, he should not really consider driving ahead of you. That is why he was asking if he should be looking forward or not, especially later in the session. You can start next to him more
– being closer means he will see you sooner and more clearly in his peripheral vision.
You can start clearly on one side of him, with both of you far from the prop but next to each other, so you can move forward and he sees you cutting to the next side. And you can also mix in some going straight, no rear cross, so he is not anticipating the rear cross based on you being behind (which is what I think he was doing here – he was rear crossing when he felt you moving with pressure, not when you actually rear crossed. That can caused trouble on some decelerations or wraps because we want him to continue straight on his line even if there is convergence).
>>I was wondering if I should wait for him to look forward or not? He obviously knows where the hat is at so I wasn’t sure if I need focus forward or not.>>
Nope! No need to wait for focus forward – but I think having him next to you, even with you hand on his collar, and you both moving forward will eliminate the need to worry about where he is looking
Nice work!!
TracyTracy Sklenar
KeymasterHi!
These looked great! No questions from him, from what I could see.I love how the helpers asked if you were threading or serving – keeping ya honest! It all looked clear to me! And to him too. I don’t think you need the “get it” marker anymore, he understands the chain from what I can see and is already driving to the toy.
My only suggestion is to settle into position, get the hand in position, count to 3…. Then release 🙂 Your release and your hand moving into position were getting a little close together in timing and we don’t want him to think that the release is the hand movement/
We build on this soon, so you can back-burner it til we add to it (not this week, it will happen next week :))
Great job!
TracyTracy Sklenar
KeymasterHi! Happy New Year!
The class ended on December 31st but I am happy to answer questions!
>>I chose to move the jump height up versus flatten. Is my goal to get her up to 24inches. I’ll admit, I tried her at 20 and she did great. Once at 24inches, I go back to working on flattening the jump and move the height back to 8 inches. Do I go all the way up to 24in again before flattening it some more.>>
You don’t need to start back at 8 inches each time you flatten it a little – you can try starting at 12 and see how she does. Getting the angles flat AND full height is really incredibly challenging so not that important because it is so hard on the body. I think getting the angles flat at a high height is good – doesn’t have to be full height.
>>Adding a 3rd jump? When do I do this?
The third jump gets added pretty early in the progression, before it is flattened – because that 3rd jump helps build stamina and balance. 2 jumps are easy… 3 are hard!
>>I did the same progression with the backside and she is at 16in with me moving more. Do I go all the way up to 24 and then try to flatten the jump.
You can flatten things out at a lower height – there is no need to get it at full height, because you can accomplish the strength/balance/coordination at 20 and still see the good effects of it on course at 24″.
>>Only add the 3rd jump when it is flatten?
The 3rd jump usually is significantly harder for the dogs, so add it while the height is still lower (16″) and the angles are still open.
>>can I book an online private/phone call? I do feel committed to continue to work on this and I want to make sure that I am doing it right.>>
I am sure we can find a time for a phone call or zoom call! Let me know what your schedule looks like. Fingers crossed that Mother Nature is kinder to you all in coming weeks!!
Tracy
Tracy Sklenar
KeymasterHi –
I am so sorry about your dad. I am keeping you in my thoughts, and I am sure your boys are keeping you company. Let me know if you need anything.>>I didn’t actually realize that any behavior between the click and the treat can become part of the behavior, which made me laugh and was eye-opening. I am pretty sure I have put that in my other dog’s training lol, and I would like to not have it for Casper. >>>
I learned it the hard way with my first small dog 🙂 And then I was lucky enough to go to a Bob Bailey seminar and he drilled it into us while we train chickens.

>>This morning when I was talking on the phone to my mom I was also playing with Casper, because playing with puppies is very therapeutic. And he was taking a few steps towards me with this mostly chewed little ball that he likes.>>OMG! He was retrieving! I guess he saw the post about flyball and wanted to practice his ball carrying 🙂 And he is also practicing his bitey ring sport skills by biting your arms too. I suggest wearing a long sleeved hoodie 🙂
I am so glad he brought a smile to your face and to your heart in that moment! Yay Casper!!!!!!
T
Tracy Sklenar
KeymasterHi!
She was a perfect girlie here! You know she has it when she gets the reward, lines herself up again, and starts without you if you are not quick enough hahaha! Yes, she was not quite as smooth on the right turns but she was able to do them all beautifully! Yay!
So… what do you want your tunnel threadle verbal to be? Time to add it, on easier angles of entry. And also, you can move to the double whammy game (posted last week).
>>I was thinking it would be easy because Frankie is a tunnel sucker big time!
Some dogs are natural tunnel-lovers, and some dogs need to learn and we forget that we taught them as puppies LOL! And some dogs HATE tunnels – so strange, right?!?!?
>>Is there a way to transition from driving to the Manners Minder to returning to me for a treat? In the next video I see that you are holding a toy and Contraband is coming back to you for the reward after he goes through the tunnel.
My highly NOT scientific method of doing this was that I just didn’t put the MM out and used a toy instead LOL! But also bear in mind that CB is a large dog, and we want to promote turning for the large dogs because otherwise they end up wide. For the smallz, I prefer for them to be in extension as much as possible – so even if they look wider on a tunnel exit, they are actually faster because of all of the speed and power. I mention this so you don’t feel the need to tighten her turns at this point: she is a powerhouse! And very small. The dog in my house that puts down the best YPS? One of my smaller girls 🙂 That dog is the widest-looking dog because she is small, she is part Staffy and part Rat Terrier so very front heavy/bully-ish, so I let her run run run on course. She turns just fine and listens beautifully but also lays down amazing times because she is mostly in extension 🙂
>>We practiced the Parallel Path game with a helper & distance & I forgot to hit record! She did really good though. I’ll try another session ang get video
On the barrel games…>>The best sessions never end up on video LOL!!
>>Is there only ever 1 release word? I don’t want to muddy “break” if I get used to useing it. Should I use that only for agility & agility training & another word for day to day stuff? Like releasing from a crate or to their meals?>>
The dogs have us all figured out and there are dozens of release words 🙂 I use ‘break’ in agility to do things like release off the start line in most situations, and I also use it as a crate release. I use ‘get it’ and stuff like as to get meals – so get it is also a release. And verbal directionals are a release 🙂 The dogs have us all figured out 🙂 so you can totally use break in any situation where she should leave a control position and move towards you or into “work”.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyTracy Sklenar
KeymasterAha! Here is the double whammy 🙂 Perfect! He did really well here and seemed to have fun too 🙂
Question: for your tunnel threadles, will you want to use your dog-side arm, or your opposite arm to go along with the verbal? You were using a little of both and he had some questions about it 🙂 I think you were ,mainly using your opposite arm, which is great! You can make it even more obvious by showing it to him (up high and across your shoulders) – but just walk forward as you do it, rather than using the arm ti flip him to the tunnel or using your motion to step to the tunnel. The verbal and the arm visual are his cues to leave you to go into the tunnel, so we want to help him understand this without needing your motion to turn him into the tunnel.
Great job on all of these! Let me know what you think!
TracyTracy Sklenar
KeymasterHi!
On this video, you letting him find the tunnel threadle even more independently, which is great! I think you should now add the double whammy where he gets to do 2 in a row (added last week).
One other thing for him: because he is a tall dude 🙂 you can throw the reward on the tunnel exit, so he exits straight more and powers through. The taller dogs have to scrunch down a bit to get through the tunnels, and if he thinks he is turning on the exit he is going to slow down. So to help him go fast fast fast, throwing the rewards straight on these will really help get the powering through the tunnel 🙂
Great job!
Tracy -
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